just you wait
by The Crownless Queen
Summary: "You should just ask her out." :: Or in which Pansy Parkinson doesn't take dating advice from Blaise Zabini, thank you very much.


Written for Hogwarts' Arithmancy Assignment, Task 3: The Communicator - Write about an expressive person acting like a hypocrite.

Also for the Auction Challenge: (color) yellow, Writing Club: Character Appreciation - (genre) humor, Disney Challenge: Friendship - Write a strong friendship, Amber's Attic: Fear is only a verb if you let it be. Don't you dare let go of my hand, Showtime: I'm Not Saying A Word - dialogue: "I'd just say 'I love you' if it was me.", Count Your Buttons: GinnyPansy, Lyric Alley: I might do this to myself, Unicorn Day: I - Innocent, Easter Event - Bingo Challenge: 22 - "Am I dreaming?", Make an Easter Basket: Toys - Write about someone being fake, the Insane House Challenge: Pairing - Theo/Blaise.

 _Word count:_ 1461

* * *

 _ **just you wait**_

"Am I dreaming? Or is the stern, cold-hearted Pansy Parkinson staring at the Gryffindor table with heart-eyes again?"

Blaise's teasing voice, so early in the morning, grated on Pansy's ears, and she stabbed her fork down on her plate, imagining it was her friend's face.

She didn't have to look to know that he was currently sporting that annoying grin, the one that always made her want to commit murder, and she forced herself to exhale deeply in an effort to stay calm.

"You're definitely dreaming," she lied with a drawling voice, steadily picking up her glass of pumpkin juice. She sipped from it slowly and pointedly dragged her eyes away from the Gryffindor table, where Ginny Weasley was laughing at something one of her undoubtedly stupid, idiotic friends had said.

"I would never make 'heart-eyes' at a Gryffindor," she continued, huffing haughtily. But even as she said it, her eyes drifted back to the other end of the Great Hall anyway. The light that drifted in through the window was yellow, but when it shone on Ginny's hair, it made them glow like a copper fire.

Pansy sighed wistfully before she could stop herself. Blaise's chuckles dragged her out of it though, and she glared at him viciously even as she could feel her cheeks heating up.

"Never, huh?" Blaise teased. "Now, why don't I quite believe you?"

"Drop it," she hissed, casting cautious looks around their table. Luckily, everyone seemed more preoccupied with their own food and conversation, but unfortunately, in Slytherin, that didn't always mean no one was listening.

Blaise caught that, of course, and with an eyeroll, he cast a privacy spell around the two of them.

"Better?"

"Much, thank you," she replied sarcastically. "But still, _drop it_. I'm not in the mood."

Blaise stared at her pointedly. "Well, I'm not really in the mood to spend _another_ morning watching moon after the Weaslette. Why don't you just make a move? I'd just say 'I love you' if it was me."

Pansy snorted. "Oh, you would, wouldn't you? Remind me, where are you at with Theo again?"

Blaise's cheeks darkened as he turned his face away. "If you must know, things are going perfectly well."

Pansy hid an eyeroll behind a viciously triumphant smirk. "By which I assume you mean that you still haven't made your move yet — much less told him that you love him."

"It's different," Blaise replied defensively. "Theo and I are friends. I don't want to screw that up — I'd rather have him as a friend than not at all. But you and the Weaslette… You're not friends."

"If that's your idea of a pep talk, it leaves much to be desired," Pansy drawled, arching an eyebrow at him.

Blaise rolled his eyes at her again — he did tend to do that a lot around her (and yes, okay, maybe Pansy did like trying to find out how many times she could get him to do that in one day). "What I meant was that if it doesn't work out between you two, you don't really stand to lose anything."

Pansy swallowed back the biting reply that burned on her tongue. Blaise didn't deserve it, and moreover, he was right.

She wouldn't really lose anything if Ginny rejected her. It would hurt, of course it would, but it probably wouldn't get… messy.

(She didn't want to think about what might happen if Theo and Blaise became at odds with each other. Their awkward will they/won't they dance was annoying, but it was also amusing and great for teasing them.

Them avoiding each other, or, Salazar forbid, worse, sounded like a nightmare. One that Pansy would have to weather, and she wasn't exactly keen on that.)

But Pansy didn't want to be rejected. She wanted… She _wanted_.

The Weaslette — Ginny (Merlin, Pansy couldn't believe how Draco's nicknames for the Weasleys had caught on so quickly) — had something about her, a fire, that drew Pansy in. She was interesting — as idiotically brave as any Gryffindor, true, but in the redhead, it was tempered with an awareness that showed in her eyes and made Pansy's heart beat too fast and her palms sweat.

As she was thinking, her eyes had wandered over to the Gryffindor girl again, and Pansy found that Ginny was staring back at her.

It was hard to see with the distance, but she thought Ginny might look… curious. Suspicious, too, but the curiosity was much more promising in Pansy's opinion.

"Maybe you're right," she found herself saying. "Maybe I should just try it."

"I am?" Blaise choked on his water. "I mean, yes, of course I am. You should listen to me more often."

Pansy was about to retort when Theo slid in the free seat beside Blaise, snatching a piece of toast from his plate and Blaise's glass of pumpkin juice that he downed in on long gulp.

Pansy stared at the two boys disbelievingly, as Blaise's face suddenly eased into something soft and he made room for Theo to sit more comfortably.

"What are you trying?" Theo asked as he swallowed the last of his stolen toast. He turned to Blaise and shot him an amused look. "Also, we'd listen to you more if your ideas were even slightly less terrible."

"My ideas aren't terrible," Blaise sputtered, but one look from Theo was all it took for his cheeks to flush red and for him to concede the point.

"And Pansy's going to ask the Weaslette out," Blaise continued, probably trying to change the subject. He was usually much more subtle about it too — Theo's sudden apparition must have really perturbed him.

"Oh, really?" Sparkles of amusement seemed to dance in Theo's grey eyes as he turned his focus on her.

Pansy scowled. "Yes," she bit back defensively. She shot them a scathing look. "I'm not a coward," she added, pointedly arching an eyebrow at Blaise who ignored her. "I think I'll just ask her if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend."

She smirked suddenly. "After all, I really don't think going with 'I love you' right from the start is a very good first step."

Theo choked on his laughter. "Why would you ever want to do that?"

Pansy shrugged, feeling mischievous. "I don't know — why don't you ask Blaise? It's what he would do, apparently."

Theo turned back to Blaise. "When have you ever tried to use that line on _anyone_? And why would you think it was a good idea?"

Blaise mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like ' _My mother did it and it worked'._

Pansy suddenly wanted to bang her head against the table — it'd feel so good when she stopped. And, judging from Theo's face, she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"Since when do you take dating advice from your mother?" Pansy spluttered. "She can't keep a husband for more than a year."

"Harsh," Blaise replied, scowling. He winced. "But true."

Theo chuckled. "Yeah, because they all die under 'mysterious circumstances'."

"I have no idea what you're implying," Blaise said, batting his eyelashes innocently.

It didn't fool anyone — everyone knew exactly what those 'mysterious circumstances' were: Blaise's mother getting rid of her husbands. Blaise had as good as admitted it a couple of years back, and ever since he knew they'd never hold it against him, he liked to remind them of it at random times.

Usually, it involved his unusually good knowledge of poisons, however, not dating advice.

Pansy didn't know why she was even surprised anymore.

"Well, thank you for trying, Blaise, but as I'm not planning on…"

"Breaking up?" Theo suggested with a chuckle.

"Right, 'breaking up'," Pansy continued, shooting him an unamused look before refocusing on Blaise, "I don't think your advice will be that useful to me." And then she grinned, showing off her teeth. "But why don't you take your own advice? See how well it works."

Blaise spluttered, but as Pansy had planned, Theo rounded up on him, hurt flashing through his eyes for a moment before the boy masked it. "You like someone? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Yes, Blaise, why didn't you?" Pansy repeated, fighting back her laughter.

Blaise's glare told Pansy _I'll get you for this, just you wait_ , but Pansy just smirked back.

Unless Blaise chickened out, things would work out just fine, Blaise would owe her one, _and_ she'd be rid of the pining.

She looked up at the red and gold table at the other side of the Great Hall, heart soaring in her chest as she caught sight of fiery hair.

Maybe it really was time to do something about her own (shameful) pining.


End file.
